After Four Days in his Appointed Role As Registrar of Voters, Clint Curtis Announces Campaign During Private “Town Hall”
Curtis announced that he’ll be running for the Registrar of Voters position in 2026, making negative comments about his top staffer, Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut, who’s also running for the seat. Some members of the press were excluded from the event despite it originally being billed as public.
5.27.25 4:49: We have updated the story to note that Curtis asked for donations during the event.
Shasta County’s new Registrar of Voters (ROV), Clint Curtis, has been on the job for only four days. Curtis is a former software engineer and attorney who’s never lived in Shasta County or held a role in election management until he was appointed by Shasta County Supervisors last week after two other ROV’s stepped down mid-term.
During a town hall meeting yesterday, May 24, Curtis provided his first public comments on the specifics of how he’ll manage the department. Curtis also used the meeting to announce his plans to run for ROV during the June 2026 election. His remarks included negative comments about his most senior employee at the Election Office, Assistant Registrar of Voters Joanna Francescut, who announced her candidacy several weeks ago.
Yesterday’s town hall event was hosted by former supervisor Patrick Jones and attracted about seventy-five attendees. But not everyone who wished to attend was permitted entrance, despite the event originally being billed as public. Some, including A News Cafe reporter R.V. Scheide and former HHSA employee Benjamin Nowain, who runs the North State Breakdown, were excluded. It’s unknown whether other media were restricted from the venue. The event was held in a reserved room at the Shasta County Public Library, in Redding.
According to Scheide, he was ejected from the event by Jones, with the full awareness of Curtis. Nowain told Shasta Scout he was not allowed entrance by Rich Gallardo, a local militia member and election activist who, Nowain said, told him he was on a “blacklist” for the event. In contrast, Jon Knight who runs Mountain Top Media was allowed to attend the event, as was self-titled citizen journalist Lori Bridgeford, as well as a reporter from Shasta Scout.
Asked how the decision to exclude some members of the press reflects on Curtis’ commitment to transparent election practices, the new ROV told Shasta Scout by text that he “wasn’t sure how the crowd was selected” indicating that perhaps there was a lack of space in the room. There wasn’t.
Curtis also noted that there will be several more meetings for the public to attend and that the information shared at those meetings “will always be essentially the same.”
Dr. Douglas Frank
Saturday’s town hall meeting began with extended comments from Dr. Douglas Frank, an Ohio-based scientist whose current full-time job involves building custom electronics. As a side gig, Frank has been involved in analysis and commentary on national election-related issues for years, serving as a paid adviser to MyPillow CEO and election conspiracist Mike Lindell. Frank believes there is wide-scale election fraud occurring across every state in the nation and says that fraud is backed by both major political parties.
In 2022, Frank was questioned by the FBI due to his involvement with Tina Peters who’s now serving nine years for criminal charges that include unauthorized access to election machines. Yesterday, Frank told his local audience he helped Peters with her machine backups, an issue at the heart of the criminal case against her.
“I’m the one at the very start of that,” Frank claimed. “I’m the one who arranged to get all the backup for her machines. I mean it just seems like I’m always in the right place at the right time, or some would say the wrong place.”
During an extended message that was part memoir, part pep talk and part sermon, Frank included frequent references to his Christian faith, a comedic nod to a racist trope about the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio and a sexist joke about former long-term Shasta County ROV Cathy Darling Allen. Frank said his nickname for the former ROV is “Clementine,” briefly breaking into a song about a gold miner’s lover to help the audience understand his inside joke, which appeared to be based on the former official’s name.
“Oh my darling, oh my darling”, Frank sang, as some in the audience broke out in laughter.
Taking a different tone, Dr. Frank referred to Shasta’s newly-appointed ROV Curtis as a gift to the community, a “gold nugget” that had been dropped into the county’s lap. At times during the event, Frank also appeared to speak for Curtis, stating, for example, that if Shasta County community members show up in person, buy a coffee for the new ROV, and show a valid ID, Curtis would put their ballots in a “priority stack” because they’re known to be “clean” ballots. (Asked by Shasta Scout after the meeting if he actually intends to do that, Curtis said it “doesn’t really matter” whether he does or not.)
Frank also talked strategy, explaining a plan to work with community members in other counties, including Siskyou, Lassen and Modoc, to gather a critical mass of support with which to confront the state when it comes to election issues.
“For the last two years,” Frank said, “I’ve been refining a strategy where we combine counties … You don’t want to (just) say ‘we have a problem in Shasta County’. If you do, the state says ‘well we’re going to impose our will on you anyway.’ You want to say ‘we have a problem in Trinity, in Shasta, in Siskiyou, in Sierra, in Huntington Beach in San Joaquin’ — all at the same time.”
Election Official Clint Curtis
Curtis’ opening remarks at the town hall meeting indicated that he believes there was significant misconduct on the part of previous Shasta County Election officials. His statements included concerns about how ballot duplication and signature verification occurred during the last election.
Curtis, who does not trust the use of voting machines for counting, repeated his intention to film every part of the election process, saying he’ll use a combination of direct observation and video documentation to prove that elections are trustworthy while following all state and federal laws. In response to a question from Shasta Scout about the possibility that such video documentation could be altered, Curtis said it’s possible but not likely.
Informing the audience that he had attended a Secretary of State training for his role on Friday, May 23, Curtis said he has already scheduled an internal mock election process for his staff to learn “the right way” to conduct an election. Next, Curtis said, he hopes to schedule a community-wide mock election in 90 days.
“If (staff) is comfortable, then in 90 days, we will have a full-on mock election for everybody, and maybe the whole country, to see”, Curtis declared, “and hopefully that will knock it out. And then we’ll be set to go and you will have elections that everybody can see everything.”
In a few months, by the time he has conducted at least one mock election, maybe more, Curtis said he hopes other counties and states will have picked up his methods “…and that may change everything”.
The new ROV asked for volunteers to help run the mock election process, a comment which prompted former election commissioner Bev Gray to speak up, noting that the names of 450 potential volunteers have already been collected. Gray is part of a citizen group that calls itself the Shasta Election Task Force whose President and Vice President are behind a recent lawsuit against the Election Office. Gray resigned from the Election Commission after voicing a controversial radio ad.
Shasta’s new ROV also says he wants to get rid of as many of Shasta County’s ballot drop boxes as legally allowed, begin printing ballots locally to save money, and apply to the state for refunds of money that the county has spent to mail ballots over recent years.
“So we’re gonna see how far we can go back and get all that mailing money, I’m hoping to get enough to buy a building… and maybe a sports car to go with it,” Curtis quipped.
During a question and answer session, the new ROV also indicated support for the lawsuit that’s been filed against the Election Office by the leaders of the Shasta Election Task Force.
“They looked up the law, they wrote it down, and they were forcing (the former ROV) to follow it,” Curtis said of the activists behind the lawsuit. Those activists include Shasta Election Task Force President Laura Hobbs, whose last lawsuit against the Election Office was thrown out due to a “profound” lack of evidence.
The meeting ended with a request by Jones that Curtis share more information about his campaign for ROV. In response, Curtis asked for donations and negatively referenced his opponent in the race, Francescut, who’s also his right-hand staff member in his new role at the Election Office.
“I’m asking for money every five minutes,” Curtis said, “because if we lose to Francescut she will go exactly back where she was before. She doesn’t know any better. She’s never studied elections, she’s never been to college. She only knows what she’s been shown, and that’s the way she’ll do it. And she lacks the confidence to have an election that everybody can see, because if everybody sees it, they’ll know she’s doing it wrong.”
Francescut, a long-term Shasta County Election Office employee who successfully ran the March 2024 primary on her own while her boss, Darling Allen, was on medical leave, responded to a request for comment on Curtis’ statements by saying she’s willing to answer anyone’s specific questions about her qualifications.
“The technical and diverse skill set required to administer an election is something learned during the day-to-day work and operations of an elections office” Francescut said. “I have been lucky to find a passion in this work during my 17-year career at Shasta County Elections (and) I am confident in my ability to serve effectively and share the commitment to making our county a better place.”
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Curtis is following the playbook precisely when it comes to setting the stage for his upcoming run for the ROV position. 1. Discredit your opponent. 2. Question her experience. 3. Suggest that she lacks the gravitas to fill this most critical position.
That’s a lot of bovine excrement. Joanna has been the glue that has held this county together through this relentless, rigged election narrative that seems to have poisoned the minds of so many members of this community. But, you know what they say…just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you! Translation: Hard evidence of actual ballot tampering is less important than spreading debunked rumors that the election was rigged. We are about to go through the looking glass. There may be no return from this precipice.
http://www.joannaforcountyclerk.com.
The root of the efforts of these schoolyard bullies is ego and power trip.
They truly believe they are going to show the whole country how it’s done and become the famous men who made hand counting happen all across America.
They truly do not care about Shasta County (as made clear by their actions over many years). These are not public servants. They are self-serving. Like Curtis said, the goal is to get a big group made up of several counties behind him. He’s nationally known and he now has the platform he’s been hoping for with a big fan club all aiding and abetting each other looking for their five minutes of fame.
What is it with the election denier nuts?
Trump won Shasta County by an overwhelming margin. The kneejerk Maga Clowns control our Board of Supervisors.
Are we to believe Trump actually lost, and that Francine Sullivan won?
Good Lord!
EXACTLY. Kevin Crye defeated Erin Resner by the narrowest margin, perhaps in the history of Shasta County. If the voting machines were rigged, what better time to nudge Resner over the finish line? BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN! The votes were counted, and Crye was declared the winner…fair and square. I am starting to wonder, had he lost, what sort of rigged election rumors would he be spreading?
Kevin Crye wants Curtis as the Registrar of Voters because his intention is to manipulate the outcome of the 2026 election. It’s clear that Crye anticipates a loss and is resorting to desperate illegal and immoral measures to secure his victory.
Headlines of this news. Should read.
“ Town-hall meeting about voter security is transparent!”
Hi Happy. Were you there?
Annelise, thank you for this well written article.
The Clint Curtis Clown Car Conspiracy Circus continues at the cost of the taxpayers. Hobbs cost us $107, 000. On her first case. If Judge Hana let’s the second case go forward on Tuesday, I hope Curtis is out on the stand sadly Hobbs will cost us even more. But, Shasta County has money to throw away I guess…
Let’s not forget the next election will have three or four big contests. Supervisors Crye and Kelstrom, the ROV position and possibly a voter suppression measure. Curtis’s claim to fame is writing software to flip votes so we all should be concerned.
…not to mention the 1% Sales Tax ballot measure that will drive voters to the polls for or against. Remember, the Election Dept, staff have union representation, so beware of lawsuits.
The fact that Curtis attempted to manipulate a voting machine because his supervisor asked him to, and he didn’t report this supervisor, who told Curtis, says a lot about Curtis’ ethics and principles. Fast forward to today. To ensure his election as ROV next year, Curtis has chosen to fire the one person who has the institutional knowledge and intellectual capacity to “pants” him in public. His day of reckoning is coming…and I want to be there when it happens.
Recap, the man who showed and said he’d follow California laws, is already planning to break them,
The man who was interested in transparency hasn’t even started working and has held a meeting with only his sycophants in attendance,
The man who said the staff is safe has already been on the radio talking about the process to rid us of our staff who knows more about elections then he ever will.
He’s not here to improve elections. He’s here to break them. He’s here to overstep boundaries with California until they step in. It’s not a coincidence that officers of New California has its hands all over this.
Nothing you can vote this out. You can’t vote in a broken system. Welcome to the new world order. Have fun.
More MAGA election denial fantasy. Also making it more clear that right wing MAGA conspiracy theorist and former county supervisor Patrick Jones is still pulling strings behind the scenes. Even though he was soundly voted out. Now our elections will be run by an election denying acolyte of the MyPillow guy. Fantastic.
What planet are these men’s supporters from? We’ve lived in Shasta County for 47 hears and have known it to be a community of honest, hard working neighbors who you could trust, and who would help each other out in spite of different points of view. Ever since Mr. Jones and his residual leftovers (Crye, Kelstrom, and Harmon) took over our county in elections they actually claim were fraudulent, they have enabled discontented followers to unleash all their nastiness on the rest of us. Please close your ears to these people’s lies and come out strongly in ’26 to vote for Joanna Francescut.
Mike Lindell is a flim flam man…FULL STOP.
JOANNA FRANCESCUT FOR ROV 2026!
Thanks for reporting on this. It’s a situation that certainly bears watching. Fortunately, we know most people in Shasta County prefer mail-in ballots, believe our elections are properly run, and will speak up as needed to keep things working the way they should.
If this doesn’t scare folks to get out and voice your protest against this, we are doomed. Just the way these people speak is unbelievable. They sound like something out of the VD Vance book, or the movie Deliverance. Sit back and do nothing and we will end up like Hilters Germany 😡
WHY DOESNT THIS NEWS OUTLET POST ABOUT JON KNIGHT!
Jon Knight is on the Shasta Mosquito and Vector Control District board. He has spoken about his conspiracy theory that Bill Gates had helped unleash genetically modified mosquitoes in California. And he believes there are “flying syringes that will mass vaccinate the population.” Knight is a right-wing political activist who was pictured outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, holding what appeared to be a white power symbol. HE WAS CHOSEN OVER AN EPIDIMIOLOGIST WHO WORKED FOR THE COUNTY FOR 23 YEARS WHO HAS ACTUALLY STUDIED MOSQUITO BORN ILLNESSES. Here is what Kevin Crye said about his vote for Knight, “Just because people have a piece of paper on a wall doesn’t automatically give them this great insight.” Knight is highly supported by Patrick Jones who is a right wing extremist, vocal about his racist, homophobic and transphobic ideology and an anti-vaxx and anti-mask covid conspiracy theorist.
Is this who you want running this county??
NOOOO!!!
We have written about Knight and we linked in this story to an article we wrote that revealed who’s behind Mountain Top Media.
Curtis is not getting off to a good start in a new County & State. He does not seem to understand that the population centers, San Francisco, Los Angeles, etc. are not interested in the ideas of a carpetbagger from Florida that rents a room in Shasta County.
“An outsider who pretends to be an insider is a carpetbagger; he’s a person who tries to take advantage of a group by joining it only for his own personal benefit. Northerners who moved south during Reconstruction in the 1860s and 70s were the original carpetbaggers, named for their suitcases.”
Larry: Thank you for defining the term carpetbagger which makes your statement different than name calling. I appreciate the civil discourse.
Clint Curtis is a prominent election conspiracy theorist with deep ties to dangerous and criminal figures such as Mike Lindell of MyPillow and Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon is currently orchestrating efforts to promote a controversial third term for Donald Trump, a violations of the 22nd amendment of the United States Constitution. Steve Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 committee. In 2020, he was arrested on federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering related to the “We Build the Wall” campaign, misusing donations meant for the US-Mexico border wall. In August 2022, Clint Curtis participated in the “Moment of Truth Summit” organized by Mike Lindell. This event spanned three days and fueled a wave of conspiracy theories regarding election fraud in the 2020 presidential election. It showcased the ongoing efforts to challenge and overturn the election results. Notably, Clint Curtis and Steve Bannon were in attendance, amplifying the conspiracy theory narrative surrounding the nonexistent election fraud. Clint Curtis is the author of “Murder, Spies and Voting Lies,” a narrative centered around conspiracy theory of election fraud. The situation is evident: Kevin Crye wants Curtis as the Registrar of Voters because his intention is to manipulate the outcome of the 2026 election. It’s clear that Crye anticipates a loss and is resorting to desperate measures to secure his victory.
Clint Curtis only needs to be in the ROV position for 90 days before the citizens of this county have the opportunity to initiate a recall. During this critical timeframe the community needs to remain vigilant. THERE WILL BE A RECALL OF CLINT CURTIS AND WE NEED THE COMMUNITY TO UNIFY TO FIGHT THE CORRUPTION IN SHASTA COUNTY!
Count me in. What I found most unnerving about Curtis’ interview was that he openly shared a story in the Record Searchlight (or I read it on Shasta Scout), that he was told by a supervisor at one of his previous employment stops, to search for the invisible keyboard embedded in the voting machines. Rather than report this supervisor or file papers objecting to the order to perform an illegal act, Curtis says he set about searching for and finding these “invisible keys”. Was this discovery documented and/or reported to anyone? This seems like earth-shattering news that a voting machine skeptic lives for. Perhaps Mr C will enlighten us at an upcoming public meeting, while under oath.
My recommendation to Joanna is Quit now. Start working on your campaign. Let the crazies fail, do not help them. I have been in your position and I held firm, as you are. I got screwed. Trust me, it’s not worth it.
The only thing I can say about this article is “YIKES!”
If you think Bev Gray’s list of 450 potential election volunteers is anything other than a curated clown car stuffed with MAGA loons, you have a loose screw.
By all means, carpetbagger…continue to disparage our local overachiever who must now do your job for you as you fart around, pandering to yahoos for the big bucks. With any luck, you’ll overplay your hand and end up being the next Tina Peters. And if it’s prison for violating state law, Trump can’t pardon you. Peters remains in the clink.
One point of disagreement: Doug Frank was a high-school chemistry teacher. His analytical claim to fame is a profound misunderstanding and mischaracterization of time-series analysis—a relatively simple descriptive statistical method. He shills snake oil to mouth-breathers in exchange for appearance money and consulting fees. He’s not a scientist.
All of this is rooted in the fact that Jones can’t handle that he was voted out of office not once but twice, and didn’t win his Supervisor seat by enough margin in 2020 that his pride was hurt. Also, the level of misogyny against CDA and JF is mind-blowing. Looking forward to the humble pie Curtis will be eating next year.
What drives me nuts is that our current politicians have no interest in representing their entire electorate. They leave scorched earth at every opportunity. Kevin Cry won his district by less than 100 votes, yet he runs roughshod over anyone who so much as whispers a word of skepticism over his voting record as if he has been handed some mandate from the people to tear down the present system. He does not. Co-opting the phrase “We the People” presumes that you represent ALL THE PEOPLE. Crye does not. This community is not as right-wing as Crye and his clan want to believe. We lean conservative, but the vast majority of us just wish for sensible governance. Crye and his posse have interpreted this sentiment as a mandate to destroy anything that hints at even a “moderate” political tone. As a result, Shasta County is becoming a banana republic.
So many questions for this guy….thanks for the coverage, totally missed this was happening. How would you suggest finding the next one he may hold?
Events like this are often posted on Facebook pages including Redding Patriots, New California State.
Since this situation IS public, and supposedly for the public, nothing announced by Mr. Curtis should be private ! After all, Town Hall events are for everyone. That’s the ” American Way” correct?
Hence the designation of TOWN HALL MEETING. Spot on.